Getty Comedian/actor Norm Macdonald performs at The Orleans Hotel & Casino in 2011.
Norm Macdonald died at the age of 61 after a nine-year battle with cancer. He was married to his ex-wife Connie Macdonald. They had one son, Dylan, who was born in the 1990s. Macdonald and his ex-wife were quiet on social media about their life together, but Macdonald sometimes tweeted about his son and the activities they enjoyed together.
1. Norm Macdonald & His Wife Connie Divorced in 1999
GettyActor/comedian Norm McDonald attends the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Washington Wizards on March 28, 2003.
Norm Macdonald and Connie Vaillancourt Macdonald were married in 1988. They were together for 11 years, separating in 1999. A year before they separated, Macdonald told The Chicago Tribune that he was currently living in New York but planning to move to Los Angeles for work.
2. Their Son Dylan Was Born in 1993
Happy Fathers Day from @normmacdonald and his son, watch them live right now on the Golfcast http://t.co/Wma3BWx1Ds http://t.co/fWyvJVl6Tl
Macdonald had one son with Connie. Dylan was born in 1993. For the most part, Connie and Norm did not talk about their marriage to the media and Connie stayed out of the spotlight whenever Norm was in the news. The Sun reported that her maiden name was Vaillancourt and she worked as a therapist, but did not provide many details beyond that.
3. Norm Macdonald Looked Forward to Moving to LA So He’d Be Closer to His Son
GettyComedian Norm Macdonald during The Match: Tiger vs Phil at Shadow Creek Golf Course on November 23, 2018.
In a 1999 interview with Rolling Stone, Macdonald shared that he and Vaillancourt were already separated. He said that the only reason he was excited about moving to the West Coast was because he would be closer to Dylan, who was six at the time.
He told Rolling Stone: “Los Angeles is all the show-business people. It’s cool seeing celebrities from the old days, but there are less and less of them. I only like guys that were famous before I got into show business — everyone else is, like, so what? It’s a one-industry town — which is always boring. And show-business people are even worse, because they think they’re interesting.”
4. His Son’s Friend Died in Norm Macdonald’s Home While He Was House Sitting
In 2016, Dylan’s friend, Michael Huettner, died in Norm Macdonald’s home while he was housesitting when Dylan and Norm were on vacation, TMZ reported. The 23-year-old was watching their home and their cat. Police sources told TMZ that Huettner was found with multiple pill bottles, including oxycodone. LAPD said they saw no signs of criminal activity. Police said that an overdose was suspected, Toronto Star reported.
5. Norm Macdonald Sometimes Shared Stories About Dylan on Social Media
Norm Macdonald would sometimes talk about his son Dylan on social media. He once said that he and his son greatly admired B.J. Novak’s books.
He shared the tweet after Novak wrote that Macdonald’s “Based on a True Story” might be the best audiobook of all time.
In 2018, he shared that he and Dylan had talked about what they could possibly do to help the situation where children were separated from their families at the border.
Macdonald wrote: “This is a fantastic article, Lili. My son and I, only yesterday were discussing the same thing. What should we do? we, meaning my son and I. I love that you brought up Mr. Rogers in this context. Mr. Rogers taught us the profanity of cynicism.”
He also talked about how much he and his son enjoyed watching Taran Killam together.
In 2015, he shared a series of tweets where he talked about how Vice asked him to write a story about the PGA championship, Uproxx reported. He said he wrote the story with his son, but Vice didn’t publish it.
He wrote: “All we were told is that it should be between 300 and 1000 words. It was the first thing I’d ever written jointly with my boy. But I knew he was a better writer than me and he is also very funny. So we wrote it and sent it to Vice. On Monday, I looked on Vice’s Sports page and the piece wasn’t up. My agent told me that Vice said not to worry, not time sensitive. … Then I got a call from my agent saying that Vice was now saying any piece my son and I wrote would have to be revised after editors saw it… A minute ago I got off the phone with an editor from Vice. He said he thought it would be better if I interviewed athletes because he said he found athletes to be naturally funny… And, after I hung up, I realized we had not discussed the piece my son and I wrote after the PGA championship…”